Last week the international club sponsored Smith’s very own celebration of Dwali Night, which I learned last year is the festival of lights in India. It was, as expected, a great night where MBA full timers took the night to celebrate an Indian tradition with our fellow classmates who can teach us about their culture and holidays. With 30% international students within the full-time MBA program at Smith, there is always an opportunity to learn and experience someone else’s cultural background. There was great food (a bit spicy, though), dancing and even singing from some of the students who I never knew had beautiful voices. I had to leave a bit early to meet a friend who was visiting me in DC, but let me assure you it was no easy feat tearing myself away from the event because it truly was a great time.

Since a week ago I took a mental journey to India during Diwali Night, this week I physically ventured to West Coast of the USA to Anaheim, California. About 12 member of Smith Association of Women MBA’s traveled to the yearly conference for the National Association for Women MBA’s (NAWMBA)and I was more than happy to make the trip to this year’s conference location: Disneyland, CA. We all arrived Thursday night and enjoyed a welcome reception for all the student and professional NAWMBA attendees. Friday night I really spent the majority of the day at the career fair and even made it to a speaker workshop session. Networking can be exhausting so my fellow classmates and I headed back to hotel for a quick nap and to get ready before the evening reception and twilight Disneyland park pass all provided by a corporate sponsor. Saturday some of us really tried to take advantage of the great weather and location by spending most of the day in the Disneyland Park. We really enjoyed ourselves and I think it was a great reward for all our hard work at the career fair and on our interviews. I am sitting in the airport right now and cannot believe this great weekend full of networking, professional growth and lots of fun has come to an end. But I am really more than glad, both professionally and personally, I decided to make the trip out to the 2009 NAWMBA conference.

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